The Republicans and Medicare

I don’t mean to pick on Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the highest ranking Republican woman in Congress and the head of the party conference. But her stated position(s) on Medicare on “Morning Joe” were both inconsistent and representative of the GOP’s current incoherence on the topic.

Basically, when asked about what changes she would like to see in Medicare, Rep. McMorris Rodgers at first adopted a posture suggesting she was hitting the Democrats from the right. When pressed, she switched to attacking from the left, criticizing previous cuts in the program. In neither stance was she specific at all about the changes she would like to see to save the program.

The Republicans are a mess on many issues right now. Medicare is just one of them. But given its central place in all debates about debt, deficit, and spending, the party needs an actual, principled position on what to do next. Mitt Romney made some efforts on this front, but Republicans seem to be back to their 2010 schizo posture. It worked politically for them then; it isn’t the right move now.

You can watch the Congresswoman’s exchange with me and Mika Brzezinski above.